


Seasons

by plsenpai



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Mother & Son Bonding?, Short One Shot, Spoilers, idfk Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 20:44:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14941070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plsenpai/pseuds/plsenpai
Summary: It wasn’t the time or place to get caught up in his emotions, or ask a bunch of questions, as Krolia said. They were still in the middle of an intergalactic war. But then the question remained to be asked… When is the right time?





	Seasons

**Author's Note:**

> ** VLD SEASON 6 SPOILERS **
> 
> Okay, I felt like that as enough warning.

 

This was almost what Keith wanted. His whole life, ever since he learned his mother left him, Keith dreamed about her coming back home. He wondered what it would be like to see her for the first time. His father didn’t have any pictures of her around the house, so Keith was left to his imagination. His father would mention how he was her spitting image, but he didn’t know what to do with that. So, he pictured her with dark hair, as his own. Sometimes it was short, other times it was long. It was hard to come up with a face. But, Keith hoped she had eyes like the moon, a thought inspired from his father.

Many nights in the summer when Keith was young, his father and him would camp right in their front yard. The emptiness of the country sky gave his father a clear head, but at night, it was a painful reminder. A reminder that Krolia, the woman who had given him so much life, was gone. He had hope that she was still alive, always. Sometimes, he would stare too hard into the night sky. The flickering stars mocked him, looking like an oncoming ship. He would blink, and wait for the stars to come closer, wait for the ship to break through the Earth’s atmosphere. But then Keith would ask what he was looking at.

His father would look down at his son, who was sitting in his lap, his eyes brighter than any star. “Looking at the moon. It reminds me a lot of your mom, you know.”

“Mommy is the moon?” Keith looked beyond his father’s face. The moon hovered directly above them.

His father laughed. “No, Keith. But she has eyes like the moon,” he said. “And you do, too.”

Keith leaned back into his father’s chest and pointed his cherubic finger into the sky. “Is she watching us?”

His father leaned back on his arms and looked up at the moon. “Yes. She is watching us.”

 

These were not the circumstances Keith imagined meeting his mother. Not in ten thousand years, not even in one hundred thousand years. To drive his point, not even one million years.

The universe was in the throes of war. Planets were being destroyed, civilizations enslaved, entire races extinct. Alternate dimensions and white holes were no longer science fiction. And in the middle of it all, Voltron existed, and the five Paladins whose mission it is to protect and defend the universe and everyone – every _thing_ – within it.

And suddenly, there was Krolia. Someone that, for years, Keith convinced himself didn’t exist. And he didn’t know how to handle it. It wasn’t the time or place to get caught up in his emotions, or ask a bunch of questions, as Krolia said. They were still in the middle of an intergalactic war. But then the question remained to be asked… When _is_ the right time?

Was it going to be soon, when Krolia came back from hunting for the food? It’s not like they were going anywhere. It had already been one month since they hopped on the back of an enormous, dawdling space whale. And their destination was still far.

Keith felt he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He needed to talk to Krolia about the flashbacks again, this time, with more detail. He wanted to know everything. He needed to hear it as her own words to her _son_ , and not through the eyes of his father.

Moments later, he heard the heavy footsteps from Krolia’s armor approaching their camp. He sat up straight, feeling a bit silly doing so. For some reason, he didn’t want to be caught sulking. It would be embarrassing for him, and maybe even for Krolia, too. He didn’t want her to think she was obligated to ask him what was wrong, like a mother should. (That’s what mothers do, right?) Keith wondered when the right time for them would be to start acting like mother and son – and if that was even possible at this point.

Krolia had a makeshift bag she constructed from vines and vegetation that grew from the whale’s back. She carried it around often for hunting and gathering. She pulled it off her body and stepped into their cove. “I brought more of,” she paused and peeked into the bag, not sure what to call the fruit-like vegetation she had picked. “This,” she said, holding the bag to Keith.

“That stuff grows quickly,” Keith pointed out, taking the bag. “I thought we picked all of it last week.”

Krolia sat down across from Keith. Between them was a pit full of brambles they collected. There was a promising flame beginning to spread in the middle. Soon, they would have a warm shelter to get them through the cold night.

“Maybe they are in season,” Krolia said.

“Do you think this place has seasons?” Keith was curious.

“Well, the beast is capable of making its own environment and atmosphere. Which means it can change it whenever it wants to,” Krolia said. “If you could say it felt like a season right now, which one would we be in?”

The question stung. It forced him to remember home. Earth. Summers with his father, holidays with him in the Fall and Winter. In the Spring they always took hiking trips. Suddenly, Keith could smell the top of the mountain him and his father hiked back when he was ten years old. Just before his death. From then on, every season was hell.

“Keith? Are you alright?” Krolia leaned forward, concerned.

“I think this feels most like Spring,” Keith said in a low voice. “It’s hard to remember what they felt like sometimes.”

Krolia dropped her gaze to the fire between them. It was starting to liven up.

“After dad died, I went to school under the Garrison. A lot of my time was spent inside, studying or training. I didn’t go outside much,” Keith sighed. “I took Earth for granted. I was such a punk kid.” He smirked.

“You have turned out to be a brilliant young man, Keith,” Krolia said. Keith met her eyes, which were glossed over. “It’s painful for me to imagine how much you had to endure. How much you had to handle alone.”

 _I wasn’t alone_ , he thought. A warmth emanated from his chest when he pictured Shiro’s face. His smile, his eyes, his Garrison uniform. Shiro was always there after Keith’s dad passed. He encouraged Keith and gave him a reason to keep on fighting, even when he was at odds with the world.

“You weren’t?” Krolia asked, her voice broken.

“Did I… say that out loud?” He cursed himself. “But it’s true. I wasn’t alone.”

Krolia had her hands clasped together, squeezing them tight. She wanted to feel relief that her son wasn’t alone his whole life. But the pain of leaving him behind was still fresh. It was still a gaping wound that wouldn’t heal. “I want to know who helped you.”

Keith stared into the flames before him. The unrest within his heart seemed to fade. His anxieties about his mother were temporarily pushed to the back of his mind. Keith even felt his fears about the intergalactic war disappear. Suddenly, everything felt at peace.

He smiled.

“His name is Takashi Shirogane.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I was overwhelmed with emotion this morning after watching this and I immediately just needed to write. And this is what came out of me.


End file.
